There were five trading sessions of historic declines in the markets in NY – and around the world – before Trump threw in the towel to avoid being knocked out in his obsessive fight for tariffs. On this Wednesday, following yet another retaliation from China, which retaliated with 104%, raising its rate on American products to 84%, a truce finally came in the trade war. At the same time that he raised tariffs on the Chinese again, now to 125%, Trump lowered the reciprocal tariffs for other countries to 10% for a period of 90 days, causing euphoria among global investors. In the late afternoon, in an interview in the Oval Office, he sent several conciliatory messages to Xi, saying that he expects a phone call from him and that he is "sure they will reach a very good agreement for both countries.\n\n… Lavishing praise, Trump said that Xi is "one of the smartest people in the world", that he has an "excellent relationship" with him, that he "does not blame" him for the US deficit, but rather his predecessors in the White House, and that the TikTok agreement "is still on the table".\n\n… But it won't be so easy to sway Xi, who on this Wednesday announced that China and the EU will discuss cooperation in the automotive sector, especially in electric vehicles. The announcement was made by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. It remains to be seen if it will still be confirmed by the Europeans.\n\n… The summary of the opera: Trump believed he could implement his tariff policy his way, he could not, and had to back down, pressured by a crisis that left him isolated and began to threaten the American empire itself under his leadership.